5) a hip length fleecy hoody with pockets, and 6) a check scarf. I have to admit, these I wore all day.

You see, the goodie bags weighed so much, and I left my credit card back in my room, so I decided to go back to my hotel and dump it all before heading out to Shibuya. I changed my vinyl jacket I’d worn for the hoodie, and wrapped the scarf round my neck.

The jeans will have to be sold, as I don’t wear them and they’re too small. The warm wool jacket is a bit too big…but maye Dom can wear it. Not sure if the dress with the drop-waist is really me…will have to wait til I put it on. I have to confess it made me cautious of buying more goodie bags. I only have so much unwanted stuff I can take on the plane!

After this I went to Shibuya 109, then La Foret and Takeshita Street in Harajuku, before hitting Lumine Est back in Shinjuku and then the subnade. Bought more things, but all separate; no bags. Alas, the pics are on my little camera, and I failed to pack the uploading cable for it…so pics of girls with their fuku bags will have to wait. I think this is enough for today, but I’ll show the rest of my haul tomorrow.

Situated on the main drag of Kabukicho (where all the lovely host boys hang out), behind KOMA theatre and right near the Honky Tonk building with the ape on it, lies the wonder that is Tonchin:

Heck, it’s so much fun walking the streets of Kabukicho, here’s a little video compilation from my last trip, as I seek out the (not so elusive) host boys…

Now, back to Tonchin itself, as you walk in there is a vending machine, as many restaurants have – which saves you talking to anyone if you’re an extremely introverted otaku. IN my case, as I was trying to make out the various options available to me, a lovely staff member came over to explain in English which ones were miso/soy based, which pork, and which seafood, as well as the various sizes you could order, and side dishes. I took the miso broth base and waited.

Watch while the guys assemble the ingredients of the ramen:

And when my dish came – what a revelation!! The aroma! The flavour!! I fell in love with ramen right there and then, and went back a few days later. I went to a few other places in Shibuya, but this place remains my fave.

Can a girl ever have too many leopard dresses and outfits? Hellz no! So here’s another – that I wore on Saturday night to Black Cherry.

You may perhaps notice the leopard hair I created to go with my outfit. Did I do it myself? Hellz yes! Do you want to know how? Then stay tuned, as I’ll be doing a tutorial on it pronto. For now, here’s the outfit.

I’d like to mention icon-tokyo, as they are a very cool brand that hardly ever gets mentioned. It has edgy gear like the outfit below:

I met the ‘icon’ bods at H.P. France ’s Merry Go Land fashion event in Shinjuku, back in September (see my post here, and one by Alice et Peter Punk here). They were there in good company with Cannabis, Grimoire, Tarock, Wut and more. I saw and bought the blue leopard dress in the daytime, and when I went back for the night fashion show, I wore it!

I’ve done several novelty restaurants in Tokyo, including the Lock Up in both Shinjuku and Shibuya, but up til my last visit had managed not to pay a visit to a Space Age themed one in Shinjuku right near Don Quixote and the Lock Up. I’m referring to the imaginatively titled “Neotokyo Fooding Bar – MYSTERIOUS“.

It’s basically a bit space age, with cocktails called things like “Mercury” and “Uranus” and waitresses running around in pvc costumes.

The bar you can see here through the metallic mesh panel of our dining booth – it was lit a gorgeous moody blue colour. There were also ultraviolet strips running along the walls, and though it was dark and strange, it also felt cosy.

There are various sized rooms – ours was enough to fit 4 people, but there are larger ones like the tatami room below, and a few nooks for couples too!

I’d gone a little gyaru looking on this night, having made a big pouffy bun out of mauve fake hair, and wearing my circle lenses, pink lippy and darker than usual base. The Day of the Dead necklace I scored at Nude n Rude in Koenji.

So onto the food! This arrived, called the Mysterious omelette (714 yen), and it was very nummy, although swathed in slightly sinful mayo and katsu sauce. For my cocktail, I chose the Saturn (840 yen), which was yellow and blue – or green once I mixed it up. Other cocktail names included the Sun, Moon, Uranus, Earth, Mars, Pluto, Jupiter, Neptune…

Then came these prawns in a creamy dressing topped with caviar and served with salad, crispy deep fried lotus root chips and sweet potato strips. On the menu it was Hutoshi Akira shrimp mayonnaise and cost 1029 yen. Yep, this place aint cheap. But the dish was delicious. You just have to not fear the mayonnaise.

Mind you, the Starry Starry Fries only cost 556 yen, and we also had a tasty risotto cooked in a litte clay pot. The food is good, but small in portion, so don’t starve yourself before you come in here, and make sure you order enough.

Here’s a short clip from when I and my friends were in the Neotokyo Fooding Bar – along with a clip from shortly after when I saw them off to the station, which shows the temperature at the time was 30 degrees. It had got up to 37 when I was there, so 30 was positively cool!

So it has ambience and yummy food and drinks…but you need to have a few yen to dine there. If you went to only one novelty restaurant in your Tokyo stay, I’d probably go for the Lock Up nearby – but if you’re looking for somewhere new and have never before been, Mysterious is defo a cool place for a meal.

I finally put up a page with links to my posts on Japanese gothic, lolita, dolly kei, punk, gyaru and street fashion (well, Tokyo mostly), and thought I’d post it as well. It’s a work in progress, and I’ve probably missed a few articles, but here is the list thus far: